Gracenotes

The kingdom of God is not what we would think—and that’s a good thing.Jumbo shrimp. Bittersweet. Exact estimate. Minor crisis. Humblebrag. Old news. Random order.  What do these words have in common? All are oxymorons, a literary term used to describe combined opposites. On the surface, we understand the ideas oxymorons communicate. However, each oxymoron represents…

Have you ever missed a deadline? I thought I did for this article.  As a recovering perfectionist, that thought gave me two invitations:  – one to embarrassment (“I did wrong”) and the other to shame (“I am wrong.”). Let’s explore two questions:   First, what do most people do when they have made a commitment and think they have blown it?  Second, how  does God’s…

Job 16:15-16 “I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death” Job 42:1-3 “Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden…

We redeem our life under the sun when we remember what’s above it. It’s barely summer, but already the sun is making itself known. I try to embrace the warmth, but the Minnesota in me wilts with each increasing degree. Underneath the oppressive heat, it’s easy to feel a sense of futility. Problems from past…

Have you looked at the calendar lately? We are almost at the end of June, which means we are pretty much halfway through 2024. It feels like the Superbowl was yesterday! I’m sure most of you are loving the sunshine and warmer weather, but it is at this time of year that I get excited…

“It’s no secret that our country is divided.” (That might qualify for the understatement of the year!) If we get ten people in a room, we’re likely to get at least eleven different opinions.  In that situation, how can we work with people who hold vastly different views from ours? One popular approach is to strongly,…

Giving thanks in life’s small challenges prepares us to give thanks in hard circumstances. Insects creep me out. (They’re called “creepy crawlies” for a reason!) So to say I was unhappy when I found some ants making their way into my apartment would be an understatement. All things considered, the ants are nothing to complain…

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:32-34 “And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak,…

Yesterday, I had the privilege of watching the late Reverend Billy Graham’s statue being unveiled in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. As a young boy, I remember well watching some of his last crusades on TV with my grandparents. For 76 years, God used a country boy from Charlotte, North Carolina to change the…

God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). As Christians, we not only believe this, but we also know it to be true firsthand. We personally have experienced God’s long suffering, mercy, forgiveness, and the sacrificial, unconditional love that saved us through Christ while we…